Boston Tea Party: The Point of No Return
Write the first paragraph of your page here. Boston Tea Party 11/19/2013 On November 28th the tea bearing ship Dartmouth ''pulled into the heavily trafficked Boston harbor. Throughout the town, citizens stood defiantly protesting the unloading of the tea into town. Governor Hutchison demanded the tea to be unloaded and the inhabitants of Boston to pay taxes. The ''Dartmouth remained in the harbor filled with tea. The ship was soon accompanied by three other ships. (Burg, Pg 10) As the days passed, Samuel Adams and other members of the Boston committee of Correspondence tried to get the ''Dartmouth ''to return to England. When this peaceful plan failed along with many others; Samuel Adams had a meeting at the Old South Meeting House. He announced that, “nothing more could be done,” this was apparently a call to arms, as a roar and war cries ensued. (Langauth, Pg 60) At this point about fifty courageous men blackened their faces and dressed as Apache Indians. With this fearful Costume, they planned to raid the three ships and dispose of the tea into the harbor. This one event was the point of no return for colonists. Britain thought it was helping America by granting the transport of the tea for free. Parliament was shocked at the action and held Boston under very tight control. The colonies responded to the intolerable acts with prayer meetings, food, and some made plans for the demise of the soldiers. This one little incident sparked a great fire, after the Boston Tea Party the Revolutionary was inevitable. Background Information At this in the colonies, tea was a very popular commodity. The British East India Company held a monopoly on all of the trade between India and Britain (which at this time included the colonies). The British East India Company profited greatly from the colonies and the tea that colonist drink. Although in early 1773 the company had been affected by corruption and horrible logistics and inefficiency. The British East India Company was also affected by the boycotts in the colonies led by Samuel Adams. (Burg, Pg 11) Britain, at this point, was willing to help relieve some of the stress from the American colonies, and the British East India Company. Britain paid for the company’s 17 million pounds of tea to be transported to America and distributed by American business owners. This would hopefully relieve some of the tension in the colonies, and make the Tea from the British East India Company be purchased. The only tea that Colonists drank came from Dutch smugglers. (Burg, Pg 11-12) Britain dubbed this transaction the Tea Act. It repelled the Townshend Acts, or the right to tax the colonies. The tea was moved only by British ships, for the Sons of Liberty threatened any American Captain that transported the tea. (Tea Act, Pg 2-8) The mass of unbought teas was stored in American warehouses and left on British ships in American harbors. This allowed the perfect opportunity for a raid on the stockpiled tea.